Why Joanie Mahoney crossed the aisle to endorse Andrew Cuomo

Lauren Long / The Post-StandardAndrew Cuomo shakes hands with Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney Oct. 6 after receiving her endorsement during a visit to Ultra Dairy in East Syracuse.

Syracuse, NY -- At lunchtime last Tuesday, Joanie Mahoney walked into the inner office of the Onondaga County Republican Committee, on West Onondaga Street, for the first time in her three years as county executive. It was a courtesy call, she said, but she wasn’t bearing good news.

Over takeout sandwiches from Panini’s Restaurant, she told newly elected party chairman Tom Dadey that she had decided to cross party lines and endorse Democrat Andrew Cuomo for governor. Dadey, along with Syracuse Common Councilor Ryan McMahon and Manlius Town Attorney Tim Frateschi, tried to talk her out of it. When that failed, she said, they urged her to at least temper her praise of Cuomo when she announced her decision.

At that point, Mahoney said, “We were talking two different languages.”

The reaction from the Republican establishment was swift and harsh. State Republican Chairman Ed Cox released a statement saying Mahoney “put bad politics ahead of good policy.” Dadey held a news conference to condemn the decision, saying Mahoney had “chosen to get behind the second generation of the tax-and-spend Albany crowd.”

The endorsement, which Mahoney says was one of the hardest decisions she has ever made, creates yet another rift in the rocky relationship between the local Republican Party and its top elected official. And it counts as another risky move in the career of an unorthodox politician as she gears up for a re-election battle next year.

Barrett’s pitch was custom-made to appeal to Mahoney’s independent streak.

“He said he believed Andrew Cuomo would be the kind of leader I’ve been in terms of bipartisanship, working across the aisle, unconventional, maybe,” Mahoney said. “And he really called me out on that by coming in here and saying, ‘That’s been your message, and here we have somebody who’s willing to do that on the state level.’”

Mahoney knew firsthand about Barrett’s history of crossing party lines. In 2002, Barrett and his wife gave $4,500 to Democrat Matt Driscoll’s campaign fund. Mahoney ran against Driscoll and lost in 2005 — without any money from Barrett.

Her meeting with Barrett was cordial but left her unconvinced. She said she had no intention of making an endorsement so early, particularly of a Democrat.

The meeting came a day after Buffalo millionaire Carl Paladino, fighting an uphill battle in the Republican primary, had a sit-down with her in the same office. That meeting, too, was cordial. But Paladino didn’t directly ask for Mahoney’s endorsement, and she wasn’t inclined to give it.

“He’s entertaining and well-intentioned, and I think he’s angry, and I think he’s got has every right to be angry,” she said. But she added: “I could call a press conference every day and I could say all the things I want to do, and I could pound my fist in anger at everybody who’s not doing what I want them to do. But at the end of the day, what have I done to move the community forward?”

Eight days after meeting with Barrett, Mahoney stood side by side in Hanover Square with Rick Lazio, a candidate for the Republican nomination who had reportedly considered her as a running mate. The appearance did nothing to help her strained relationship with the local Republican Party: County Chairman John DeSpirito and state Chairman Cox had held a news conference just an hour earlier with their chosen candidate, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

After Levy dropped out, DeSpirito switched his support to Lazio. Mahoney remained non-committal. And she continued to get entreaties from Cuomo’s campaign — although she never had a direct conversation with Cuomo about an endorsement.

Over the past few weeks, Mahoney said, she began to talk seriously with her advisers about Cuomo. Most of her political advisers warned her against it, but some of her policy advisers were more open. One of her most trusted confidants — her father, party stalwart Bernie Mahoney — was not thrilled.

“I can’t imagine the circumstances under which he would endorse a Democrat,” she said.

Last Monday morning, Cuomo’s campaign advisers called again. They said he was planning an event Wednesday in Syracuse and asked if she was ready to make an announcement. Mahoney hung up and spoke again to her advisers. The announcement would be in conjunction with an endorsement of Cuomo by the Business Council of New York State. That afternoon, she called the campaign back and said she would do it.

“I listened to everyone, and I asked people, ‘What’s the downside? Tell me why not to do it?’” she said. “And when all of the downside can be summed up as, ‘It’s a political problem for you, Joanie,’ then the decision becomes very easy.”

“I’m in two different worlds,” she said. “For the people who are in the political world, it’s Republican above all else, and we need to get Republicans elected. That’s what their job is. And I am part of their world, but I’m county executive and I cannot make decisions based on what’s in the best interests of the Republican Party.”

Mahoney said she believes Cuomo has the best chance of working across the aisle to get action in Albany to reduce spending and ease the burden on counties. She said $160 million of the $180 million property tax levy in her proposed budget is to pay for state programs that she has no control over.

“If elected, he’ll be one of three people who can influence that,” she said.

Whether Mahoney will pay a political price in her re-election campaign next year is unclear.

Three years ago, she defied the party by running a primary against the chosen candidate for county executive, Dale Sweetland, and she scraped by with a victory. Now, she is heading into the final year of her first term with a bankroll that tops $150,000, while the Republican Committee is at least $30,000 in debt. Dadey said the committee is a year behind on its rent on its headquarters and will be appealing to candidates — including Mahoney — to help with its finances.

Mahoney says she wants to rebuild the committee, which could help her carry out the basic groundwork of a campaign — putting up lawn signs, door-to-door petitioning, fundraising and word-of-mouth support. She backed a few dozen candidates for the 600-member committee this fall, and most were successful. And she supported Dadey to succeed DeSpirito, with whom her relationship was toxic.

That her first public dealing with Dadey — five days after he took the job — was a major endorsement of the other party’s candidate for governor was “unfortunate,” she said. But she added, “He and I will be fine.”

Dadey said he has a good relationship with Mahoney and he doesn’t expect that to change. But he said she has made some Republicans angry.

“Bottom line, she’s got to work on her relationship with the Republican Party,” he said.

Barrett said he thinks Mahoney’s move will be a “net plus” for her politically.

“I find that problems of this nature are pretty short-lived in politics,” he said.

Mahoney, meanwhile, recognizes that she has to shore up some relationships.

“I have heard from Republicans who are upset, and I would put my mother in that category,” she said. “And she let it be known that I have some serious fence-mending to do with some of my siblings. We’ll see how Thanksgiving goes.”